HAMILTON BULLDOGS SHUT OUT AT HOME BY SYRACUSE WEDNESDAY

The odds finally caught up with the Hamilton Bulldogs Wednesday night. For the fourth time in a row they trailed 2-0 but against the Syracuse Crunch there was no comeback. The Tampa Bay Lightning shut out Hamilton 3-0. The Bulldogs in their three previous games had come back to win twice and gain another point in a shootout loss.

Once again Bulldogs coach Sylvain Lefebvre’s game plan was to protect his young defense with aggressive forechecking. The system was working until a fluke goal in the second period by Syracuse forward Dmitry Korobov broke a scoreless tie. J.T. Wyman and Richard Panik with an empty net goal completed the scoring. Rico Helenius took advantage of a flat Hamilton offense to record the shutout.

There wasn’t much to be said for the flat offensive performace by theBulldogs in this game. Once again rookie Brendon Gallagher was the biggest scoring threat. On defense Nathan Beaulieu had another good night. (Box Score and Season Team Scoring Below)

Game Notes –

……The teams will meet again Friday night at the Bell Centre, one of two Hamilton home games to be played in Montreal this season. ……Russian prospect Alexander Avtsin was a healthy scratch for the tenth consecutive game. Kyle Hagel was also a scratch. Among the injuries – D-Greg Pateryn (fractured elbow), G-Cedrick Desjardins (groin), FWD-Louis Leblanc(high ankle sprain. …..Prior to this game the Bulldogs had not lost a game in regulation time at home. ……Scoring streaks ended with the shutout – Brendon Nash three assists last three games. is on a three-game point streak (3 assists) Mike Blunden ended a four-game point streak (2 goals, 2 assists)